Focusing on his comrades' life force, Chichiri didn't take long to catch up to them, a short distance from where the peace talk was taking place. "Is that the villa over there?"

"Gah! Don't just sneak up like that, Chichiri, you're gonna give me a heart attack!" the redhead snapped. "And don't give us away!"

"We just got here ourselves, and were discussing what to do," explained Miaka. "Boushin's command said not to follow Nakago, but we couldn't sit back and do nothing. Now that you're here, maybe you could disguise yourself and get in."

"I could try, you know?"

"What are you doin' here, anyway? Why you already healed up?"

"Do you have to ask? I took him out of there to go rest with Chiriko. We should have done that earli—"

"Ah!"

Miaka couldn't contain her horror as she sensed a familiar change in the air, but before she could form another thought the villa a burst forth with a blue light. It immediately caught the others' attention and they gasped helplessly with wide eyes.

Boushin saw the light and clenched his eyes shut, bracing for impact. It would hit at any moment, he was sure—it may have been his mind playing tricks on him in his final moments, but it seemed to be taking a long time. Cautiously, he opened his eyes and looked around. Everything still looked blue, but he could feel nothing around him.

"Ahh!"

He snapped towards the sound and saw a man's silhouette, spreading his arms and being forced off the ground—it was Counselor Chou. Boushin tried to call out his name, but his figure grew fainter and fainter, and Boushin called louder—but there would be no answer. Was Boushin already a ghost, silent to the rest of the world?

He looked down to his hands, but they still had physical form, and they were still covered in someone else's blood and clung to Hotohori's sword. One way or another, he had survived Nakago's attack unscathed.

The light subsided, and as his eyes readjusted, he looked around and saw the sudden change in his surroundings. Nakago and Suboshi had fled, and there was now a blue sky where the roof had been. Pieces of the blackened and tattered walls smoldered and debris and corpses coated the floor. Though he wasn't recognizable from his angle, he could tell the one in front of him was Counselor Chou. That knowledge made the color drain from his face. He drew his gaze away slowly, too shell-shocked to react, he noticed someone struggling behind what remained of a table.

"C-Counselor Shu!" he called out, dropping the sword and rushing to his aid. Flinging the table away, he saw that half of the old man's face and arms were badly burned, and he was bleeding from many places were debris had hit him. He ventured to look down towards his feet, but the gruesome sight made him quickly look back to his face. 'Are you alright' would be a stupid question, so he merely repeated his name. "Counselor Shu!"

"Your… Highness…" he breathed with difficulty, his eyes searching around until he located where the voice had come from. "You're… safe…"

"I'm fine!" he took his hand and squeezed. "I'm alright, Counselor Shu!"

With what strength his face could muster, he smiled. "I'm… so relieved… what a good boy… a fine emperor…"

"C… Counselor S-Shu?"

"What a fortunate man… I am… to spend my last moments…" he said, squeezing Boushin's hand back, "…with you…!"

"Counselor Shu!"

"You're a fine emperor… a hero… for ages to come! I was… I was so proud… to serve… you…"

"That's all because I was raised by you! I can't do it alone yet. Counselor Shu!"

The old man wrinkled into a smile again, then went limp.

"Counselor Shu? Counselor Shu!" he squeezed, then dropped his hand as the sense of death overwhelmed him. Shooting to his feet he shrieked, staggering back a few steps. Looking around again at the swirling destruction, the sense of death washed over him anew.

An unmistakably live voice snapped him out of his shock. "Boushin!" Tasuki called, running towards him and practically leaping up into what was left of the building.

"Tasuki—"

The bandit ignored all sense of decorum as he held him tight. Boushin returned the embrace, unable to do or say anything else. An instant later, Tasuki heaved him onto his back, picked up the sword he had dropped, and took them away from the carnage as the bandits caught up to salvage was they could of the counselors' and guards' remains.

Coming from the other direction, Chichiri was carrying Miaka in his arms, and she was anxiously looking forward, searching for them. "Tasuki!" she shouted.

"And Boushin, you know!"

He set her down to her feet and gave her his arm to steady herself as they waited for him to approach. "Let me see Boushin! Is he alright?"

When Tasuki stopped in front of them, he turned so they could see him. He faced them, but before Boushin could say a word, the other two were tripping over themselves as shock escaped their lips.

"It's terrible! Treat him, quick! There's so much blood!"

"Ah!" the boy managed to form words again. "I'm fine! This isn't… this is Nakago's blood, not mine."

"Nakago's?" Tasuki exclaimed and nearly dropped him.

A young woman's voice interrupted them. "Miaka!"

"Yui!"

The Priestess of Seiryuu came running to join them. "Is Boushin alright? Kaika and Suboshi barely got out of there alive themselves, but they're in poor shape—"

"Yui!" she tripped towards her and clung tightly. "Why did you leave? Don't you know how worried I was?"

"You're one to talk, Miaka," she had a weak smile as she hugged back. "I'm sorry. We were trying to find a way to stop Nakago before he came close to hurting anyone again. I never expected him to come so close to hurting Boushin."

"He would have, if I hadn't made a wish right away to protect him! If you wanted to do something like this, couldn't we have worked together?"

"We've never worked together on this," she frowned. "I thought it was better not to impede on you and your warriors, especially when mine don't mix well."

"You still should have—" Miaka didn't finished as she collapsed, so pale that her lips were turning white.

"Miaka? Miaka!" she shook her and started to cry. If Miaka was in this state after two wishes, how could she expect to survive a third? A third—Yui had yet to make this herself, but her ultimate desire was entirely clear.

Juan had peacefully fallen back asleep, and Chiriko left the tent to attend back to his military duties at the top of the fortress—back among the generals and chieftains, he found them all spooked and silent with nervous glances to each other. In an instant his face matched theirs. "What's going on? Have they started to attack?"

"I'm afraid that's not what we have to report, Counselor Ou."

"Then what is it?"

"We heard a strange noise in the Priestess of Suzaku's quarters. We intruded when we thought we heard someone calling out your celestial name…"

"Has something happened to Miaka?"

"No, sir. It was this…" the burlish man trailed off, then motioned to a stuffed bear on the table. "This thing. It instructed us to bring it to you."

"Oh—Keisuke!" he said and approached it. "What's going on?"

You'll never guess what Boushin did!

"Please, don't be dramatic and just tell me what happened!"

The negotiations were interrupted by Suboshi, and in the confusion Boushin seriously wounded Nakago with Hotohori's sword.

"He what?"

"The emperor?"

"Our emperor?"

Chiriko lost his grip on the bear as all the cheiftains crowded around to speak with the all-knowing voice. "But what of the negotiations?"

Um...they managed to set up a trade for aid before all hell broke loose, but I don't know if you can count on that food now…

"Food?"

Yes, for the refugees, but—

"How did he convince him to do that?"

"Whats more, how did he engage that monster in combat?"

"No, what's more, did he win?"

"Yes! What is there to say of our emperor now?"

"Is our emperor safe?"

"What is there to say of our emperor now?"

A silence fell over the room, but in their impatience it couldn't last long. "Speak, O Spirit! Lest I tear off your-"

He's… safe.

The men burst into cheers, first of pure joy, then into wishing a long life upon the young emperor. In the confusion the scholar struggled to take hold of the plush toy again, and had to raise his voice to hear himself. "But what's going on now? Where is Nakago now?"

I don't know—I think he fled after the explosion—

"Fled? Explosion? If Nakago is still alive, then he'd be heading back to his camps—he'd be heading here! Everyone, quickly! Mobilize to stop—"

The notice came too late. The tower of the fortress shook violently and there was a loud crash, followed by disorganized hollers. Chiriko and the chieftains rushed outside, but all too quickly to notice the crumbled state of the stone wall they were standing on. When a stone beneath Chiriko's foot gave way he would have tumbled to his demise, had a general next to him not been fast enough to catch his wrist. As he dangled, he looked over his shoulder at the land the enemy gathered in, and he spotted a man with a blue cap and unmistakable hair riding off in that direction, a fair distance in front of his first pursuers. As the figure of the man and the horse grew smaller and smaller and movement among the distant troops indicated they had noticed him, the warrior could only watch breathlessly, expecting the hoards of Kutou troops to start clouding over the hillside at any moment.

To his surprise, the crowd began to move in the opposite direction. Nakago's injury must had been serious enough for him to order his advancing troops to fall back and regroup, he deducted, and then called out as loud as his lungs would allowed as he hung from one arm. "Stop! Don't persue! Stop! They're retreating, fall back!"

A flagbearer heard his calls and transmitted the order as Chiriko, the generals, and the remaining soldiers up top evacuated the unstable structure. In order to make a quick getaway Nakago had charged through and blasted the gates with his life force, taking the camp by total surprise. As the others quickly took count of the casualties and assessed the damage and what they would need to refortify as soon as possible, Chiriko relocated the bear and retreated to his tent, asking Keisuke to fill him on everything that had happened.

Startled awake by the ongoing noises, Juan rose and gingerly walked to the exit of the hut as if called by a voice, but he sensed in his gut that he should not step out there. Backing away, he heard a faint noise in the adjoining space. Peaking through, he saw that Chiriko holding his face and crying. Whether it was as Mitsukake or as Juan, the boy had the emphatic sense to know that someone had died.

"H-h-has something happened to Miaka? Or Chichiri, or Uncle Tasuki? Or… or B-Boushin?"

"No," he shook his head, his voice tight. "They're all fine."

He frowned. If it wasn't any of those people, then perhaps he didn't want to know. "Do you… do you want to… or do you think we should… all go back and see him?"

As Keisuke had been shouting to the pages, Mayo woke up, and before opening her eyes she knew she was back in Tokyo. The couch was far too soft to be anything in the Universe of the Four Gods. As she sat up, the blanket Tetsuya had provided slid off, and she saw that she was still half dressed in her servant attire. It didn't bother her and she instantly turned her groggy attention to the words Keisuke was saying, summarizing the last pages to Chiriko. She crouched down behind him and listened thoughtfully, then waited until Keisuke paused.

"Food from Kutou, huh?" she commented.

"Ah! Mayo, when did you get there?"

"Aw, Coach, you call me by my first name now? How forward."

"That—"

"Boushin managed to get that out of Nakago, hmm? He must have played him better than I did—maybe I should have waited it out and gotten a better chance later," she sighed. "So much for losing my virginity with a celestial warrior."

"Considering the kind of danger you were just in, you're being awfully nonchalant!"

"Food," she sighed again. "It would be nice if that deal had actually worked out. Really nice. I saw starving people while I was out there, you know. Briefly, anyway."

Keisuke was taken aback, then found his mood matching hers. "Boushin seems like the kind of kid who would love more than anything just to fill their bellies again."

"Speaking of filling bellies," Tetsuya walked back into the room saying, "instant ramen is served—hey, you! Get some clothes on!"

She stuck her tongue out flirtatiously before pulling the blanket over her lap, as Keisuke resumed his conversation with Chiriko. She had the decency to remain silent as he delivered bad news, then when he seemed fairly silent himself, she pulled the book away. "You sound more tired than I am. I'll read aloud for us now."

"You sure?"

"What, did you think I'd have a crying fit to be back here or something? Sure, I'm frustrated, but that's why you should stay out of my way. Let's see… 'The Priestess of Suzaku awoke to the light touch of her friend's fingertips against her cheeks…'"